Middle Orient

Since January 19th to 21th, simultaneous with Eid-e-Ghadir, the second tripartite sitting of Institute for Interreligious Dialogue, Anglican Church of England and Lutheran Church of Germany was held in Tehran. We (my wife, my good friends at the institute and me) were the host and therefore we were busy from …

EUROPEAN UNION foreign policy chief Javier Solana embarks on a Mideast charm offensive Monday to calm protests over controversial Prophet Mohammad cartoons, and to limit the diplomatic fallout from the row.

LONDON (Reuters) — A British newspaper released a video on Sunday apparently showing British soldiers savagely beating Iraqi teenagers in 2004, prompting Prime Minister Tony Blair to promise a full investigation.

BAGHDAD (AP) — Shiite lawmakers Sunday tapped incumbent Ibrahim Jaafari to be Iraq’s new prime minister, endorsing the physician and longtime exile for a second term by a single vote — thanks in large part to support by a radical anti-US faction.

WASHINGTON — Akbar Ganji has a term for the dangers of challenging Iran’s Islamic government: “Playing with death.” Ganji is perhaps Iran’s best known political prisoner. A veteran of hunger strikes and long bouts of solitary confinement, Ganji has been imprisoned since 2001 after writing that regime allies were responsible …

KUWAIT CITY (AFP) — Kuwait’s Emir Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah on Thursday issued a decree approving a 16-member new Cabinet that includes three Islamists and saw the exit of two leading liberal ministers. Six ministers in the new government are members of the ruling Al Sabah family — …

TRIPOLI (AP) — The leaders of Sudan and Chad have signed a peace agreement to end increasing tension, pledging to deny refuge to each other’s rebel groups and to normalise diplomatic relations. The agreement, signed late Wednesday, was reached after a day of talks hosted by Libyan leader Muammar Qadhafi. …

WASHINGTON (Reuters) — The United States, which came under fire for abusing detainees in Iraq, has spent millions of dollars creating a new prison system there as part of a programme to revamp the criminal justice system from top to bottom. A Bush administration official, who asked not to be …

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (AFP) — Israeli officials played down Thursday talk of a rift with the United States after Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice rejected any unilateral moves to finalise the borders with the Palestinians. Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who is to lead the centrist Kadima Party into March 28 …

KARBALA (AFP) — More than a million Shiites, many beating their heads with knives, marked the mourning ceremony of Ashura Thursday amid heavy Iraqi security presence to prevent stampedes and attacks. Commemorations of Ashura, which remembers the slaying of the Prophet Mohammad’s grandson Imam Hussein in the southern Iraqi city …